A high school cheerleader in Michigan says she was told to "cover up" her legs when she wore her cheer uniform to school on game day, according to local news outlet WNEM.
Marianah Alburg, a varsity cheerleader at Pinconning High School in Pinconning, Michigan, said that cheerleaders were told by their coach to wear their uniforms to school on game day, as athletes commonly do at the school. Still, Alburg said that she was told to put pants on underneath her cheer uniform.
Alburg's mother, Amanda Alburg, told WNEM, "I called the school office, and I was told that they are to wear pants under their uniforms at all times."
She also said she was told that not wearing pants "is a distraction to the boys."
Amanda Alburg said, "I don't feel that should be a distraction to the boys. Girls have been wearing cheer uniforms issued by the school on game days to school since I was in high school. Never had to wear pants under it."
School superintendent Andy Kowalczyk said in a statement: "Athletic uniforms may not meet school dress code requirements. This is the case for the length of the cheerleading skirts. PHS would not allow students from any sports team to wear uniforms to school that do not meet those requirements."
He also denied any mention of the uniforms being a "distraction to male students," but Alburg said, "I know who I talked to at the school had told me it was a distraction to boys. That is what I was told personally."
Alburg and several other parents from the district later attended a school board meeting to voice their concerns and to criticize a double standard as to how male and female athletes are treated by the school's dress code, which some members of the board agreed needed updating.
"The dress code thing has been going for a long time. Do I think it needs to be changed? Absolutely," said school board president Brad Dubay.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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